Burning Washington:  Dolley Madison’s Historical Letter

About | K-12 Objectives | Materials Needed | Procedures | Assessment

Procedures :

1. Take a survey of how many students write or receive letters on a regular basis.  Ask them who they write to or receive letters from, what they write about, and why they write letters.  Ask :  Do you save your letters ?  Do you consider them to be a part of history ?  Do you think you or someone else will ever read them to understand what was going on at that point in time ?  Tell students that they are going to learn about the taking of Washington by using a primary source.  Ask :  What is a primary source ?  Explain that they are going to read a letter to learn about that time in history and will have the opportunity to express their thoughts about the letter.

2. Briefly review past knowledge of the War of 1812. (This lesson should fall near the end of the time spent on the War of 1812)  Ask for volunteers to summarize what you have been studying, what the War of 1812 is, its significance, and what impact it had on the United States.

3. Use a K-W-L Chart to brainstorm what students know about the taking of Washington and Dolley Madison’s role.  Have students raise their hands to offer input and write the students’ ideas on the board.  Ask them to think about what they would like to learn that might be expressed in the letter.

4. Introduce Dolley Madison’s letter.  Tell students that it was written on August 23, 1814 to Dolley’s sister. Read (either the teacher or a student) Dolley Madison’s letter to the class, pause after each paragraph to give a brief summary of what Dolley said. 

5. Ask students to take a minute to think about the letter and what it contains.  Ask :  What is historically significant about this letter ?  What was Dolley feeling at this moment ?  How do you think her sister reacted ?  What have you learned about the War of 1812 from this letter ?  How would you feel if you were in this situation ?  Would you take time to write a letter ?

6. Complete the K-W-L chart with what students learned from the letter.  Discuss what they have learned by asking some of the questions above.  Show the students the images of the burning White House to foster discussion.

7. Ask students to respond to Dolley Madison in the form of a letter.  Remind them how a letter is written. Tell them to pretend that they are Dolley Madison’s sister (or brother) and they should include their reactions to her letter along with questions they have about the situation.  Encourage them to think hard about how Dolley’s sister would react.  Tell them to think about the letter in the context of the War of 1812 and her sister’s life.  What might be going on where Dolley’s sister lives ?  If students have difficulty with this encourage them to talk to their neighbor for a few minutes to discuss their ideas.

Center for Technology and Teacher Education, University of Virginia, This module was created by Nicole Colavito, University of Virginia